A/N: Hello! This is my first fic, so sorry if they're a little OOC Please leave reviews, and don't be afraid to offer some advice!

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

-Abraham Lincoln

6 Months after the War with the Patriots

"Where do you think you're going, Charlie?"

Charlie Matheson turned from where she had paused in the doorway at the sound of her mother's voice. "Out to town. Did you need something?"

Rachel stepped forward, blue eyes locked on her. "No, Charlie, but I don't think you should be going anywhere today."

Charlie tilted her head to the side, confused. "Why not? Did something happen?"

Her mother shook her head. "Nothing happen, I'm just worried, sweetheart."

Charlie felt her temper rising and struggled to keep it in check. "About?"

"It's not safe for you to go out there by yourself, Charlie. I don't want anything to happen to you."

She stared at her mom, eyes wide with shock. "You're joking, right?"

"No, honey, I'm not." Rachel frowned at the look of incredulity on her daughter's face. "I can't have anything happen to you. We just finished the war, why don't you stay home and stay safe for a while?"

"I think I can handle myself just fine." She turned to leave again.

"Charlie, I am forbidding you from going on your own out to town. You need to wait for Miles to come home tomorrow before you go anywhere. I will not lose anyone else!" Rachel's eyes filled with tears, and Charlie knew she was thinking about the losses of Ben, Danny, and the recent passing of her father, Gene.

Charlie stood there, hating the fact that her mother was, once again, trying to control her, but at the same time she didn't want to start yet another argument with her. Her blue eyes searched for a solution and found it in a familiar leather jacket thrown across the back of a chair.

"Fine," Charlie smirked, observing the look of surprise and triumph in her mother's eyes, "then I won't go alone."

Rachel frowned slightly in confusion, but Charlie ignored her as she made her way out back to hunt down the one person she trusted as much as – if not more than – her Uncle Miles: Sebastian Monroe.

During the war, Miles hadn't wanted to leave Rachel often, and Aaron and Priscilla would never have left each other's sides again, so that left Bass and Charlie to partner up. At first, Charlie hated it, hated constantly seeing his face, hated being forced to rely on him to have her back.

As time passed, however, she began to think of him more as Bass instead of General Monroe, which probably had something to do with the stories he would tell at night around the fire when neither of them could sleep. He would tell her stories of him and Miles, sometimes with Ben, as kids. Eventually, he began to tell her stories of them, how he would babysit her before the Blackout and how they had been so close. Now, she knew him and what he would do as well as she knew herself.

So it took her hardly any time to find him out in the woods, hunting.

"Hey, Charlie," he said softly over his shoulder as she crept up behind him.

Charlie smiled slightly, knowing she shouldn't have even tried to sneak up on him. "Bass," she replied with a nod. She hesitated slightly, before asking, "Can you come into town with me?"

He turned to her with a look of surprise on his handsome face. "Sure, but why? I've never known you to need help fighting off those village idiots."

She laughed quietly, remembering how the boys in town would constantly watch her or follow her every move. "Nah, I'm just trying to avoid an argument with my mom."

"You know, Charlie, you don't have to use Rachel as an excuse to get to spend more time with me," he teased with a wink.

"I know, but spending time with you was the better of two bad options," she shot back, causing him to tip his head back and laugh loudly.

The pair made their way back to the house, where Rachel was beginning to make tea.

"Charlie, where did you-"

"I'm going to town now," Charlie announced, grabbing the few items she would need, "and Monroe is going with me. Now I won't be alone, so you have no need to worry and no reason to keep me here. Goodbye," she called over her shoulder as she and Bass walked out the door.

"Charlie, wait! That's not what I-" Rachel stopped, cut off by the slam of the front door.